Complaining: Lesson From Scripture

Ol’ Gene Pool was sick as a dog with a head cold today.  So, it being Sunday, Cess and I stayed home from gathering with the other believers as church.  When we do not assemble with the brothers and sisters, which is seldom, we assemble anyway, just the two of us here at our little house in the boonies.  I usually take the phone off the hook where we won’t be interrupted, and for the morning we share our individual walks with the Lord the past week, we share Scripture that is on our hearts, and we pray for many things and many people, especially for the Lord to return soon.  So it was this morning.  It’s always a blessed time. 

During Cess’ share of Scripture, she pointed to Numbers 10 and 11 where “the children of Israel set forward according to their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai.”  God arranged His people in an order.  First Judah, then the other tribes of Israel in an exact order.  Last were the non-Israelites, those mix of peoples who had fled Egypt with them.  They brought up the rear when traveling, and camped on the parameter of the camp when they stopped. 

Scripture tells us that the people complained and when God heard it His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.  It goes on to say that the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.”

Now ol’ Gene definitely doesn’t intend to lessen the responsibility of the Israelites, but it is interesting to note that the complaining seem to begin with the non-chosen, the mixt multitude who tagged along.  And God’s wrath was displayed first on the outskirts where they camped.

Which brings me to today.  It is normal for complaining to begat complaining.  Once one person starts it, no matter how good they have it, someone else inevitably chimes in.  I witnessed it at work for 40 years.  And it started with misfits--people who could not work with, or for, others--people who were never satisfied no matter how much catering to they received--the basically unhappy.  And before it was over, even some of the contented were fault-finding.

It seems so it is with the vast majority of today’s visible churches.  One starts to murmur or complain, and before you know it the fire is raging.  Could it be that the story in Numbers has a lesson in it?…where the non-chosen were the ones who started the trouble?  Could it be that if the visible church was made up believers there would be no complaining?  Hmmm.  Now that’s food for thought!

God's blessings,
Gene